February 7th, 2005

Concerns amongst companies that are already knee-deep in asbestos lawsuits have resulted in the postponement of the introduction of the asbestos trust fund, and an emergency meeting held last weeks amongst lawmakers. The bill was meant to be introduced last week by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., but he concerns expressed by manufacturers and companies paying into the trust fund resulted in a meting being called to discuss mixed dust claims.

The meeting was to focus on how claims relating to a combination of silica and asbestos would be handled, as silica can produce some of the same adverse health effects as asbestos. Companies paying into the asbestos trust fund expressed concerns that, although they could no longer be sued for asbestos liability once they had paid into the fund, they could still be hit with multi-million dollar silica lawsuits.

Medical and legal experts confirmed that there had been a sharp, unexplained rise in silica litigation, and this is what has sparked off concerns amongst the companies involved with the trust fund. The purpose of the trust fund was to provide asbestos victims with compensation in place of enabling them to file a lawsuit. It was also to ensure that manufacturers and companies paying into the fund would not be held liable for further lawsuit once they had paid into the trust fund.